Berkshire Hathaway announced today that it has sold about 7 million shares of Wells Fargo and it plans to sell another 2 million shares in order to keep its ownership stake below 10% so it would not be classified as a bank holding company. These sales represent less than 2% of its 500 hundred million share stake.

Berkshire’s press release states:

“We will monitor the outstanding share count of Wells Fargo in the future, and, if necessary sell shares in amounts to keep our ownership interest slightly below 10%. Berkshire has no present intention to sell Wells Fargo shares in amounts beyond the quantity required to provide a small safety margin below 10%”